Album Review: Errors – ‘Come Dine With Me’ (Rock Action)

For every [b]Kissy Sellout[/b] or [b]Drums Of Death[/b] giving electro a bad name, for every po-faced post-rock meanderer that thinks they’re God’s gift just because they play guitar slowly, there’s sadly few [a]Errors[/a] redressing the balance.

The young Glaswegian quartet’s 2008 debut [b]‘It’s Not Something But It Is Like Whatever’[/b] was an exciting blast from the leftfield, its taut and funky post-everything dance music a heartening sign that both these much-abused genres had life in them yet.

It’s with mixed feelings, then, that we say that [a]Errors[/a]’ second album… does pretty much the same thing. They’re still doing it better than anyone else; ravier than [a]Foals[/a], more fun than [a]Fuck Buttons[/a], flexing more post-hardcore muscle than [a]Metronomy[/a]. It’s just that we kind of hoped they might surprise us again.

That said, if they’re not pushing any new envelopes, [b]‘Come Down With Me’[/b] is still satisfying on its own terms. First single [b]‘A Rumour In Africa’[/b] is euphoric and funky, locating the perfect middle ground between post-hardcore, post-rock and electro. [b]‘Supertribe’[/b] is springy and exuberant, call-and-response guitar giving way to an itchy, restless electro-synth riff.

The bangers, as on their debut, are preferable to their more contemplative moments, which can tend towards the worthy; [b]‘Antipode’[/b] finds them still too much in thrall to label bosses [a]Mogwai[/a], while the navel-gazing [b]‘Sorry About The Mess’[/b] feels a little post-rock-by-numbers, [a]Errors[/a] writing a song that they know sounds like an [a]Errors[/a] song.

[b]‘The Erskine Bridge’[/b], by contrast, is much more interesting, a wind-chiming, ambient watercolour contemplation that’s impressively subtle, but hard to reconcile with the rest of the album. [b]‘The Black Tent’[/b] nails a mournful mood just right, with more mellifluous guitar and a rolling, melancholic feel, gazing-sadly-out-of car-window music.

Much better are the tight, assertive rhythms of [b]‘Jolomo’[/b], finding a sense of purpose that the album as a whole seems to lack and building to a menacing lurch. They save the best for last in the form of [b]‘Beards’[/b], a krauty, sophisticated number that’s the most fun moment here. Its woozily oscillating, slightly seasick whirl leaves you feeling that this is a band who have much more development potential in them than they’ve displayed here.

[a]Errors[/a] remain one of the most interesting young bands in the country, even if their second album isn’t quite difficult enough. Perhaps they could do with living up to their name and risking a few more mistakes.

[b]Emily Mackay[/b]

[i]What do you think of the album? Let us know by posting a comment below.[/i]

Click here to get your copy of Errors’ ‘Come Dine With Me’ from the Rough Trade shop